Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tell Me Three Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Blended Families
Intimacy and Growing Up
Wealth, Fitting In, and Bullying
Home
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Theo comes into the kitchen wearing impossibly tight jeans and a leather vest. He flexes his arms and tosses Jessie a fancy juice box. Jessie catches it, thinking that if she’d known Theo was home, she wouldn’t have left her room in her clay facemask. The juice is revolting. They discuss Theo’s outfit—Jessie says he looks like a biker, but he was going for a rocker look—and Jessie realizes that Theo might not be confident all the time. Theo asks if Jessie is coming to the party tonight and uses one of SN’s expressions. Jessie refuses Theo’s snarky invitation to dress her up and take her out.
The aside that Jessie would’ve stayed in her room if she’d known Theo was home shows again how uncomfortable she feels in this house. In particular, though, she feels uncomfortable with the people—and for good reason, judging by Theo’s snarky tone when he invites Jessie to accompany him to a party. Jessie can’t even be herself in the place she calls home, which is understandably difficult and scary for her.
Themes
After Theo leaves, Jessie emails SN to ask if he’s at the party. SN asks if they can instant message instead of email. He admits that he was at the party, but now he’s just sitting in his car. He also says they can’t text since he’d have to give up his identity. SN checks if Jessie is feeling better after her horrible week and says that he’s not having the best year either. When SN says that Jessie has “sad eyes” and a “sad brow,” Jessie stops typing. She thinks that Mom always warned her that she’d get a wrinkle from furrowing her brow and hopes she doesn’t look sad all the time. SN messages again and says that Jessie’s brow is great the way it is. He tells Jessie that the party was a typical party, but it feels unimportant. Talking to Jessie, however, feels important.
Moving their communication from email to an instant messaging program is a way to escalate the intimacy and the immediacy in Jessie and SN’s relationship. Further, it’s significant that SN mentions he’s not having a great year either—he clearly needs support and someone to talk to, just like Jessie does. And the fact that SN suggests that talking with Jessie is more important than the party indicates that he recognizes the importance of communicating openly and honestly. This is, after all, how they’ll build their relationship.
Themes
